The USDA will divide $100 million among 21 states, from Colorado to Pennsylvania and Florida, for a project that could double the number of fuel pumps that sell gasoline with higher blends of ethanol, such as E15, E30 or E85. An estimated 4,880 pumps would be installed at more than 1,400 stations, with the USDA grants drawing a “more than one-to-one match from private and state resources.” Grant amounts for each state under the Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership will be determined later, the department said.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters the pumps would result in larger sales of corn ethanol at a time when the fuel market is saturated with ethanol at the traditional 10-percent blend rate. “We create additional market demand,” said Vilsack, so biofuel sales could continue to rise.
The EPA is scheduled to announce in November the biofuels mandate for this year and for 2016. It has proposed a target of 13.4 billion gallons this year and 14 billion gallons for next year. Those are increases from the 13.2 billion gallons that were consumed in 2014 but lower than specified by a 2007 law.